Morrissey Central "OPEN LETTER TO JOHNNY MARR." (January 25, 2022)

This is not a rant or an hysterical bombast. It is a polite and calmly measured request: Would you please stop mentioning my name in your interviews?

Would you please, instead, discuss your own career, your own unstoppable solo achievements and your own music?

If you can, would you please just leave me out of it?

The fact is: you don’t know me. You know nothing of my life, my intentions, my thoughts, my feelings. Yet you talk as if you were my personal psychiatrist with consistent and uninterrupted access to my instincts. We haven’t known each other for 35 years - which is many lifetimes ago. When we met you and I were not successful. We both helped each other become whatever it is we are today. Can you not just leave it at that? Must you persistently, year after year, decade after decade, blame me for everything … from the 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami to the dribble on your grandma’s chin ?

You found me inspirational enough to make music with me for 6 years. If I was, as you claim, such an eyesore monster, where exactly did this leave you? Kidnapped? Mute? Chained? Abducted by cross-eyed extraterrestrials? It was YOU who played guitar on ‘Golden Lights’ - not me.

Yes, we all know that the British press will print anything you say about me as long as it’s cruel and savage. But you’ve done all that. Move on. It’s as if you can’t uncross your own legs without mentioning me. Our period together was many lifetimes ago, and a lot of blood has streamed under the bridge since then. There comes a time when you must take responsibility for your own actions and your own career, with which I wish you good health to enjoy. Just stop using my name as click-bait. I have not ever attacked your solo work or your solo life, and I have openly applauded your genius during the days of ‘Louder than bombs’ and ‘Strangeways, here we come’, yet you have positioned yourself ever-ready as rent-a-quote whenever the press require an ugly slant on something I half-said during the last glacial period as the Colorado River began to carve out the Grand Canyon. Please stop. It is 2022, not 1982.

Morrissey. January 2022.

OPEN LETTER TO JOHNNY MARR. - MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY - MORRISSEY CENTRAL - OPEN LETTER TO JOHNNY MARR.

MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY on MORRISSEY CENTRAL

www.morrisseycentral.com

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Marr, January 26th:


Some related posts moved to this thread: Johnny Marr responds to Morrissey's open letter via Twitter (January 26, 2022)

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Related item:

• Express: "The Smiths split ‘bruised me emotionally, it turned to s*** with Morrissey’ – Johnny Marr" via Uncut Magazine - January 13, 2022

Media items:

• BBC: Morrissey calls on Johnny Marr to 'stop using my name as clickbait' - January 26, 2022
• Daily Mail: There is a fight that never goes out: Morrissey accuses Johnny Marr of 'using my name as click bait' and insists The Smiths bandmate 'knows nothing of my life' in scathing letter - January 26, 2022
• Far Out: Morrissey pens scathing open letter to Johnny Marr: "You don't know me" - January 25, 2022
• Fiona Dodwell: "From Morrissey to Marr: Why THAT Open Letter Was a Long Time Coming" (January 26, 2022)
• Guardian: ‘You don’t know me’: Morrissey accuses Johnny Marr of using him for clickbait - January 26, 2022
• Independent: ‘Move on’: Morrissey tells Johnny Marr to stop talking about him in interviews - January 26, 2022
• MEN: 'Move on. It's as if you can’t uncross your own legs without mentioning me': Morrissey tells Johnny Marr to stop talking about him - January 26, 2022
• NME: Morrissey asks Johnny Marr to stop mentioning him in interviews - January 25, 2022
• Rolling Stone: Still Ill: Morrissey Really Wants Johnny Marr to Stop Talking About Him - January 26, 2022
• Stereogum: Morrissey To Johnny Marr: Keep My Name Out Of Your Mouth - January 25, 2022
• The Telegraph: Why Morrissey and Johnny Marr hate each other (paywalll) - January 27, 2022 (transcript at Yahoo!)

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Just a guess - reunion's off
FWD.

 

[MoneyChangesEverything]

Weirdly, Marr wanted to reform with Morrissey about 15 years ago - which seems odd if the Smiths was such an unpleasant and difficult time for him. A tremendous amount of revisionism has taken place on Johnny's behalf in the last five years or so. You can't help but feel he's done it to distance himself from Morrissey because he desperately wants to look good in the eyes of the media.

We're at the point now where Johnny can write an article for the Spectator and receive no flak at all. Imagine if Morrissey had done that...

Marr's been pretty consistent for the past thirty five years about why The Smiths split up. I guess at one point he wondered if The Smiths could exist in some form again, but found that the same reasons that existed in 1987 were still there in, say, 1999 or whenever it was. This is no different than meeting up with an ex from a long time ago, getting on OK with them, but also realising that the chemistry is no longer there. Some bands have been able to reform and continue to work successfully (Suede, for example, New Order.. for a while) and others haven't.

 

[GirlAfraidWillNeverLearn]

I have no interest in reading 13 pages of replies, but a very minor detail just in case it wasn't mentioned yet - Moz's signature on the single doesn't look like a Smiths era autograph

 

[Orson Swells]

Marr's been pretty consistent for the past thirty five years about why The Smiths split up. I guess at one point he wondered if The Smiths could exist in some form again, but found that the same reasons that existed in 1987 were still there in, say, 1999 or whenever it was. This is no different than meeting up with an ex from a long time ago, getting on OK with them, but also realising that the chemistry is no longer there. Some bands have been able to reform and continue to work successfully (Suede, for example, New Order.. for a while) and others haven't.

Though by all accounts Marr went away from the pub thinking they had reformed. It was Morrissey not getting back in touch that ended the reunion before it had even begun.

 

[NealCassidy]

I have no interest in reading 13 pages of replies, but a very minor detail just in case it wasn't mentioned yet - Moz's signature on the single doesn't look like a Smiths era autograph

View attachment 78923

illustrating the growing apart over time, deep

 

[Ben Budd]

Has anyone worked out what horrible things Marr has actually said/written about Morrissey that has brought about this bizarre tirade?

 

[NealCassidy]

Has anyone worked out what horrible things Marr has actually said/written about Morrissey that has brought about this bizarre tirade?

easy enough to find

 

[Ben Budd]

easy enough to find

ok so you won't mind linking me to them then

 

[Anonymous]

It's actually pretty over the top, Johnny has said plenty of kind things about Morrissey over the years and hasn't shown anywhere near the vitriol Morrissey's comments suggest.

"Behind the hatred there lies a murderous desire for love"

Morrissey keeps talking about Marr slagging him off in the press, and calling him a monster etc, yet I never actually see anything approaching the vitriol of these quote in the interviews themseleves. I think Moz is just extremely paranoid when it comes to Johnny (I challenge anyone to read 'Autobiography' and not pick that up) - so when Marr says something like 'Isaac Brook is the greatest lyricist I've ever worked with" Moz takes that as a personal attack, and something designed to personally wound him. I suspect all Morrissey wants to read is positive things from Johnny, and receive some praise. He acts like a spurnedd lover when it comes to Marr, and the slightest of disparaging comments obviously hurts him way out of proportion.

 

[Billy A]

Golden lights displaying your name
Golden lights, it's a terrible shame
But, oh, my darling
Why did you change?

Boy in a million, idol, a big star
I didn't tell you how great you were
I didn't grovel and scream and rip
Your brand new jacket at the seams

You made a record, they liked your singing
All of a sudden the phone stops ringing
I never thought that you would let
The glory make you forget

Golden lights displaying your name
Golden lights, it's a terrible shame
But oh, my darling
Why did you change?

Top ten idol, king of your age
Who do you turn to when you're backstage?
Don't you remember you once knew a girl
You loved her more than the world

Is life always like this, brother?
Good for one side but bad for another
I must put you behind me tonight
'Cause you belong to the lights

Those golden lights displaying your name
Golden lights, it's a terrible shame
But oh, my darling
Why did you change?

Oh, oh, my darling
Why, why did you change?
Oh

 

[Monk33]

Weirdly, Marr wanted to reform with Morrissey about 15 years ago - which seems odd if the Smiths was such an unpleasant and difficult time for him. A tremendous amount of revisionism has taken place on Johnny's behalf in the last five years or so. You can't help but feel he's done it to distance himself from Morrissey because he desperately wants to look good in the eyes of the media.

We're at the point now where Johnny can write an article for the Spectator and receive no flak at all. Imagine if Morrissey had done that...

Marr wanted back in less than 10 years ago, I assume mostly for money, but also because he knows people really, really wanna see his band again, & he kinda messed up just leaving in a tiff. But ever since the press has really ramped up their attacks on Morrissey Johnny decided to jump on that pile, being the safe and “noble” thing to do. Morrissey I believe didn’t take Moz back because Johnny left HIM.

 

[Surface]

It's made the national press, maybe Morrissey has a deal sorted and this was planned to get his name out there again? Comments are a bit of a mixed bag.

Morrissey blasts The Smiths bandmate Johnny Marr

In a lengthy open letter, the former lead singer of The Smiths requested the group's ex-guitarist refrain from speaking about him publicly, because he 'doesn't know him'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Amy]

It's made the national press, maybe Morrissey has a deal sorted and this was planned to get his name out there again? Comments are a bit of a mixed bag.

Morrissey blasts The Smiths bandmate Johnny Marr

In a lengthy open letter, the former lead singer of The Smiths requested the group's ex-guitarist refrain from speaking about him publicly, because he 'doesn't know him'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Laughed at this one - "Maybe they just need to have a shag and get it out of their system."

 

[NealCassidy]

There is a fight that never goes out: Morrissey accuses Johnny Marr of using him as clickbait | Morrissey | The Guardian

‘Must you persistently, year after year, decade after decade, blame me for everything?’ singer writes in open letter to former Smiths bandmate

amp.theguardian.com

 

[Anonymous]

Morrissey should write a song about Marr using Morrissey in interviews. He could release it on YouTube. I even have an idea for a title!

Rubber Johnny

 

[NealCassidy]

'Move on': Furious Morrissey blasts Johnny Marr over recent comments

'Must you persistently, year after year, decade after decade, blame me for everything?'

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

 

[Amy]

Nonsense. Moz is surrounded by yes men who don't upset the paymaster because they rely on the milk from his teat. You've seen the burn rate Moz has on band members. If your first single wasn't T-Rex's Ride A White Swan, your next 45 is a P45. Marr told the truth as he saw it on the stand, Moz told the truth as he saw it : that his unstoppable genius lifted a bunch of talentless dullards to undeserved success, and they should be forever grateful to him for the crumbs thrown from his poetic table. Marr was less arrogant. Anyone who has read Autobiography and has working brain cells could probably work out that Moz may very well some form of inflated self-importance, and possibly even BPD.

Marr owns the memories and experience of The Smiths as much as any other member, and he has the right to discuss his life in The Smiths if he wants. The Smiths weren't the mafia, with a code of omerta.

I wasn't really weighing in on the court case stuff itself - just saying that Morrissey's view of Johnny (weak, eager to please, not loyal) was crystallised then, has never changed and has been borne out to a degree by JM's sniping in later years.

Morrissey is surrounded by yes-men and he can't expect to police what a grown adult says about him, but the letter isn't that scathing - it's basically "stop hurting my feelings, you cared about me once". And Johnny's response is the most pathetic thing I've seen in a long time.

 

[Anonymous]

'Move on': Furious Morrissey blasts Johnny Marr over recent comments

'Must you persistently, year after year, decade after decade, blame me for everything?'

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

"Marr has been reluctant to talk about the band's split since 1987"

More like he hasn't shut up about it since 1987. He probably talks about it over breakfast with his wife and kids.

 

[CrazyFaceGenes]

Marr like Morrissey can say what he wants, Moz doesn't have to like it, just as plenty of people don't like a lot of what he says about the people on planet earth. I don't think Marr puts the boot in really, not compared to what a lot other people have to say about Morrissey.

A storm in a teacup.

 

[Innes]

Moz's career in ruins? Uh. . . he has an album ready that tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, are dying to get their hands on. He could announce a show at the Hollywood Bowl for tomorrow night and sell it out.

Don't get me wrong. . . he's certainly not at his peak. But if he had $0 today he could be a millionaire tomorrow. I think he's fine.

I don’t think that is true.

 

[Phranc & Open]

Moz's career in ruins? Uh. . . he has an album ready that tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, are dying to get their hands on. He could announce a show at the Hollywood Bowl for tomorrow night and sell it out.

Don't get me wrong. . . he's certainly not at his peak. But if he had $0 today he could be a millionaire tomorrow. I think he's fine.

Well, for someone who wants to be pinned to everyone's bedroom wall, he's way off the popularity curve at the moment. Sure, he can always tour and draw a bigger worldwide audience on average than Johnny Marr but Morrissey's claim to fame is being wooed by major labels, excited to market his latest recordings worldwide. Isn't it?